UKIP changes its name to woo Tories

The UK Independence Party is preparing to change its name as part of a rebranding designed to woo Conservatives disaffected with David Cameron.

The ruling executive of the anti-Brussels party is expected to approve plans to promote itself as the Independence Party for the local elections on May 3.

Leader Nigel Farage said it was time to campaign on more than immigration and withdrawal from the EU - and move on to wider themes of national and local independence, deregulation and tax cuts.

These arguments, he said, had been "abandoned by David Cameron".

"We believe in national independence," he said. "But we also want to see a much greater degree of independence at local level, believing that one of the worst things the Tories did in the 1980s was to emasculate local government.

"We firmly believe that to stop the political class doing whatever they want against the will of the people there has to be some device by which people can call a national referendum."

The name change was, Mr Farage said, "the first step to get people's perceptions of the party to change".

UKIP would remain the name on the local election ballot papers but campaign literature-would increasingly refer to the Independence Party.

It would more than double its number of candidates at the local elections in a long-term strategy aimed at building local support and winning seats in Parliament.

He was also confident that under the "independence" banner, UKIP would secure two seats for the first time in the Welsh assembly.

Liam Fox, the Tory defence spokesman, admitted on GMTV's Sunday Programme that "many Conservatives would sympathise with UKIP's general view" on European policy.

But Dr Fox warned that disgruntled Tories who voted for UKIP would simply help Labour.